Review

A review of Trees and other Ramifications: Branches in Nature and Culture

Spencer Museum of Art
University of Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
March 5 — May 24, 2009

The virtual forest of thought offered by "Trees and other Ramifications: Branches in Nature and Culture" includes many monochrome works that provoke quiet meditation such as Valerie Lueth's "Programmable Do-Gooders," etching, 2004. Loan to Spencer Museum of Art. All images courtesy of Spencer Museum of Art and Steve Goddard

A tree is a forked system: borne from a single trunk, its branches and twigs can extend in all directions, far from the root of its origins. The exhibition currently on view in the central court at the Spencer Museum of Art plays with this concept of growth systems in alternately scientific, profound, and humorous ways. Taking as its common beginning the form of the tree, the works in the show explore themes extending to the outer reaches of natural beauty and human knowledge.

Charles Chaplin (1907-1987), "Edge of the Forest," engraving. Loan to Spencer Museum of Art.

Roger Medearis (1920-2001), "Native Oak," lithograph, 1979. Loan to Spencer Museum of Art. Tree identified as Burr or Chinquapin oak from an area probably cut for lumber.

The greatest strength of the exhibition is its interdisciplinary nature. Organized by Stephen Goddard, senior curator at the Spencer, Trees and other Ramifications: Branches in Nature and Culture brings together visual art, history, literature, and science. Some of the works, such as prints by Birger Sandzén or Roger Medearis, feature what one might expect: a single tree or two, their beauty and grandeur highlighted. Enhancing such works, however, is a collaboration between the Spencer and the KU Biodiversity Institute’s Natural History Museum, whereby scientists have identified each of the tree species exhibited. In addition, we see maps and texts modeling possible changes in the geographic distribution of these trees under different scenarios of climate change. Under what circumstances, for example, might the cottonwood tree migrate out of Kansas?

Birger Sandzén (1871-1954; born Blidsberg, Sweden; died Lindsborg, Kansas), "Giant Cedars," lithograph, 1922, source unknown, 0000.2096. Tree identified as Juniperus osteosperma (Utah juniper).

In a few works, such as prints by Grant Wood and Rockwell Kent, trees become props for the human agents of the composition — figures planting or carrying trees. In the majority, though, the trees are central and multifaceted, and this is where the interdisciplinary components of the exhibition shine. A lyrical, Art Nouveau image of a hanging tree by George Grosz, ironically titled Lebensbaum (Tree of Life), stands in for the evils visited upon humans by one another in the course of human history.

Rockwell Kent (1882-1971, born Tarrytown, New York; died Au Sable Forks, New York), "Bringing Home the Christmas Tree," lithograph, 1929. Gift of the Hoss Charitable Foundation, 1995.0005. Tree identified as Scott pine.

Rare manuscripts loaned from area collections include the branching, genealogical systems of family trees, a fascinating 18th-century tree attempting to map all of human knowledge, and Darwin’s diagrammed classifications from On the origin of species by means of natural selection (1890). Scottish contemporary artist David Byrne, perhaps better known as a founding member of the Talking Heads, humorously charts his own take on the origin of species, where the relative loftiness of nuns, priests, rabbis, and mullahs is contrasted to the more mundane avocations of record collectors, fly fishers, curators, and I.T. designers. A phylogenetic Tree of Life maps the relationship between species of plants, animals, bacteria, and single-celled microorganisms, these branches all rooted to a central, universal ancestor of life on earth.

Charles Darwin (1809-1882), "On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or, The preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life." London: J. Murray, 1860. Loan to Spencer Museum, B109.

Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (1834-1919), "The evolution of man: a popular exposition of the principal points of human ontogeny and phylogeny." From the German. London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., 1883. Loan to Spencer Museum of Art, C684.

Strengthening even further the interdisciplinary connections, Goddard collaborated with several other institutions to organize related shows. Two galleries in Lawrence, 6 Gallery and the Lawrence Percolator, installed art exhibits on tree themes. The KU Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Center mounted installations on fossil trees and branching systems, while the Charlotte Street Foundation in Kansas City is hosting a two-part exhibition entitled Happy Tree Friends at la Esquina and Paragraph galleries. Curated by Kate Hackman, Part I was previously reviewed here in at Review), and Part II at Paragraph includes public presentations by various tree experts. Perhaps the most curious appendage exhibition, at the Watkins Community Museum of History, is the show of historical photographs of a man who once lived in a tree near Lawrence, Hugh Cameron: Tree Hermit, Philosopher, and Civil War Veteran (also on view through May 24).

Mike and Doug Starn (born, New Jersey, 1961), "Structure of Thought 15," MIS and Lysonic inkjet prints on Thai mulberry, tissue and Gampi papers with wax, encaustic, matte medium, varnish, 2001-2005, of Camperdown Elm in Prospect Park (Brooklyn, New York), perhaps the same tree made famous by poet Walt Whitman.

Klaus Staeck (born 1938, Pulsnitz, near Dresden, Germany), "Und neues Leben blüht aus den Ruinen," offset lithograph,1979.

Many of the works in Trees and other Ramifications are both thoughtful and provocative. The large-scale Structure of Thought 15, by Mike and Doug Starn, is a centerpiece of the show. In a haunting juxtaposition, the artists layer images of neurons with silhouetted tree forms, presenting the unexpected pairing as seekers of light. Und neues Leben blüht aus den Ruinen (And new life blossoms from the ruins), by German photomontage artist Klaus Staeck, offers a contemporary ecological critique with a single green tree rising out of a gray concrete jungle. In a classic bit of curatorial humor, Goddard includes a framed silver fork from the Wurttemberg Metal Factory — a “forked system” in itself. -re-